21 April, 2008

Wolfgang Tillmans is one of those rare talents. His work has always had a raw feel to it usually associated with documentary photography. In fact, the first time I met Wolfgang he was doing just that at a friends club night: Kashpoint in Soundshaft, behind Heaven. From that point on he seemed to everywhere... A very affable man, always holding a camera. I didn't think too much of it, until I saw the photographs from that night in his studio, and then later at the Tate Britain. I knew that he was a photographic artist, but to see the images after watching him take these snapshots was beautiful. He had a fascinating ability to seemingly control light. It seems that this documentation of his friends and the people around him has always been a concern for him, often taking them out of context, and utilising the photographic process itself.

For this solo exhibition at Maureen Paley Gallery he will be experimenting more with abstraction. Although, I believe it will be abstraction achieved through the use of ordinary things. The work itself that will be on show will be brand new, but we are assured that it will follow the lead of the image you see here. These abstractions seem to have an ethereal quality to them, and this control of light and manipulation of medium is apparent.

Wolfgang Tillmans was the first photographer, and non-british citizen, to win the Turner Prize.

This may be the last chance to see flyKKiller in an intimate environment before they become stellar. Their recent tour of the UK after their collaboration with the store proved to be a huge success. This gig actually came about at the event we worked on, as Mark Beaumont from the NME got them on board. The venue is relatively new, but boasts a 700 capacity, and seems to be gathering momentum...

We'll be there, but this time in a non-performing capacity. This time it's all about the music.

17 April, 2008

As it's the first newsletter and this is the first 'to see' section devoted to London being released to you on this global network, the internet, this seemed like an obvious choice. The now mythical figure of Jack the Ripper was the first time that the media and the police had worked together, and it forced both parties' techniques to be innovative. Jack the Ripper was sensationalised by a media that was beginning to realise it's importance and influence over the general public, and it was not long before the newspapers were fighting against each other to try and produce more sensational descriptions of the murders. He represented the birth of the serial killer celebrity and the creation of such a thing by the mass media.

This exhibition 'Jack the Ripper and the East End' is purportedly the first of its kind. Although we have seen countless books written on the subject claiming to be revelatory, with their evidence to support their various claims to have found Jack's identity, none have been universally accepted as the answer. This exhibition goes to great lengths to allow us the general public to see a lot of this evidence first hand. It will give a lot londoners living in the east end a chance to see how their london experience compares to the east end then. The east end traditionally has always been a tough area with a checkered history peppered with violence and crime, and only in recent times has it been experiencing a renaissance with the popularity of the area within creative fields. It is now one of the most desirable areas of london to live, with house prices at an all time high, and becoming comparable to more traditionally moneyed areas of london.

Suffice to say I don't think it's important to bore you with my opinion on the identity of Jack himself, although I am a big fan of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbells graphic novel From Hell, as we have direct contact with the source

material for the first time.

I urge you to take a trip to the Docklands, and go and see this exhibition of artefacts and evidence, and perhaps play sleuth to come to your own conclusions. But, most of all, take it as an opportunity to see a glimpse of the east end as it was, and take comfort in the fact that the whitechapel we know now is a much safer kinder place than the whitechapel that was...

14 April, 2008

FlyKKiller are long time friends of the store. Having been chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the acts set to break through in 2008, who are we to argue. As a group they represent the meeting of minds between Stephen Hilton, who works with David Holmes (most notably on the Free Association project), and Pati Yang, who has had a successful electronic music career in her native Poland since she was 18. They were given a residency at The Fly Bar in London and asked the store to collaborate with them. We promised 'happenings and disturbances' and happenings and disturbances we gave... For the most recent installment in the residency we performed live 'geometry' using compasses, rulers, set squares and all sorts of scholarly equipment. Pati wore head-to-toe Patrik Rzepksi from the store (see the picture below) and David Holmes Dj'ed.

We attached large sheets of paper to places in the venue that were unavoidably walked upon, and then took our time to approach each sheet with the equipment, and drew out complex geometrical shapes. They were shapes that architects throughout the ages have used in the construction of celebrated buildings, drawn in charcoal, so that as they were tread upon they were erased: gone but not forgotten. The audience took a great interest in the geometry and people asked questions, they wanted to give their own opinion on fibonacci, or gnostic symbolism; it felt appreciated and necessary. It seemed like they were genuinely interested in the whole: both the band and the 'happenings and disturbances'.

This was the final chapter in the collaboration, but word has reached us that it may be moved to the Water Rats in Kings Cross and our services may be called upon again!

[The top Pati is wearing is sold out, but the leg pieces and high waisted shorts are available online at our online store HERE - Please check out their debut album 'Experiments in Violent Light' which was released on FLYKKLLR RCRDS at the end of last year, click HERE to buy it from Amazon.]

13 April, 2008

Three poems for women (Susan Griffin)

1.

This is a poem for a woman doing dishes.This is a poem for a woman doing dishes.It must be repeated.It must be repeated,again and again,again and again,because the woman doing dishesbecause the woman doing disheshas trouble hearinghas trouble hearing.

2.

And this is another poem for a womancleaning the floorwho cannot hear at all.Let us have a moment of silencefor a woman who cleans the floor.

3.And here is one more poemfor the woman at homewith children.You never see her at night.Stare at an empty place and imagine her there,the woman with childrenbecause she cannot be here to speakfor herself,and listento what you thinkshe might say.

07 April, 2008

"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a boy of no wealth and some distaste. My name is Otto. I unlive in Berlin sometimes, sometimes farther north, depending on mood. Then again, I only have one mood: dead. Undead. I find it difficult to make an unliving because I am homeless."

Otto is the new movie by alternative film director Bruce LaBruce. At the screening I attended at the BFI he introduced the movie himself. He described it as a first in a number of ways; it was the first gay zombie movie, and it was his first myspace movie. In a sense these two things are not entirely disconnected from each other in the film as the zombie is used as a metaphor for everyman, and in particular the future everyman: as Bruce says himself "...an allegory for our troubled times".

It's only in the last few months that I have overheard couples arguing about their partner's friends on facebook; hearing the feeble excuses that they give for being friends with particular people, due to the fact that 'x' left a cursory comment on their 'wall'. I have known people that have received 'comments' on myspace the next day after a night out saying how much that 'x' liked their shoes on the previous evening. I know, creepy. Otto seems, in some ways, less socially dysfunctional than these people. Although he does have the rather antisocial habit of devouring things...

As a whole, the movie is a lot more than just a comment on this zombified post-MTV post-myspace culture. The main feeling I left with was sadness. Although in a lot of ways a comedy, underneath this humour it was a sad reflection on the state of future everyman, and it seems in Bruce's eyes, queer everyman.

Rick Owens was responsible for the costumes and the soundtrack included a friend of mine Susanne Oberbeck AKA No Bra.